Blagojevich budget cuts deeply into health, human services

Dana Heupel

Friday

Aug 24, 2007 at 12:01 AMAug 24, 2007 at 12:09 AM

Despite Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s quest to provide health care for needy Illinoisans, his state budget cuts slash deeply into health and human services programs also designed to help the most vulnerable residents.

Despite Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s quest to provide health care for needy Illinoisans, his state budget cuts slash deeply into health and human services programs also designed to help the most vulnerable residents.

On Thursday, Blagojevich unveiled $463 million in cuts to the budget lawmakers had sent him Aug. 13. Well over $100 million of that amount came from health and human services programs and projects.

The cuts were as large as $11 million for payments to community agencies serving the developmentally disabled and as small as $10,000 for a program to help residents of a decaying Chicago neighborhood. They eliminated money for food pantries, homeless shelters, a veterans home, substance abuse clinics, autism programs and help for the disabled and mentally ill, along with scores of other programs.

“He’s cutting from programs -- poor people who can least afford to receive the cuts,” said Rev. Jennifer Kottler, deputy director of Protestants for the Common Good and a frequent advocate before the General Assembly on human services issues.

Many of the services, she said, are not wholly funded with taxpayer dollars, but if they didn’t exist, state government would have to provide them.

“These are all needed services within the community,” Kottler said after being asked to review the governor’s vetoes.

Justin DeJong, a spokesman for the Governor’s Office of Budget and Management, said in an e-mail Friday that Blagojevich trimmed some human services programs because “the General Assembly overestimated programmatic cost when they prepared the budget. The governor’s reduction veto brings spending in line with projected costs for the upcoming year.”

As for cuts in human services projects proposed by individual legislators, DeJong said: “While certain initiatives may serve a purpose for a particular community or organization, the state already has many programs in place to meet these important needs.

“These were not all easy decisions,” DeJong said, “but we believe we ended up with a budget that better reflects the needs and values of the people of our state.”

At times, however, Blagojevich’s choices appeared contradictory. For instance, he removed a $25,000 grant to a homeless group in Chicago, while leaving in $100,000 for a homeless shelter in Elgin. Those sorts of decisions left some to wonder whether the governor was simply rewarding his friends in the legislature and punishing his detractors, such as House Democrats and Senate Republicans, whose leaders have squabbled with him over budget issues.

“It just does not make a lot of sense on a political basis or a basis of principle, other than I’m one of the evil House Democrats,” said Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, who is among a small group of lawmakers who consistently pursue human services and health legislation.

Among Harris’ initiatives that Blagojevich chopped from the budget were programs to provide adult day care for seniors with Alzheimer’s disease, housing and food for families with AIDS, mental health care for refugees and immigrants and job training for the homeless. In all, they totaled about $330,000.

“It’s not about providing health care to people who are needy. It’s not about providing social services or substance-abuse help. It’s about a political agenda,” Harris said. “And the people who suffer for it are the most vulnerable people in our community.”

Blagojevich signaled his intention Aug. 14 to cut the budget that lawmakers had just handed to him and to institute a $463 million program to extend health coverage to low-income Illinoisans.

However, questions arose soon afterward about whether the governor had the authority to fund new programs without budget authorization. Blagojevich’s staff then said he would find money elsewhere in the budget for his health care initiative, the governor’s unrelenting crusade during this year’s session of the General Assembly.

“It doesn’t make a lot of sense what things he’s chosen to cut versus not,” Kottler said Friday.

“I’m all for health care, too, but not at the expense of these cuts.”

Dana Heupel can be reached at (217) 788-1518 or dana.heupel@sj-r.com.

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